Hitting a major milestone in my Derek Jeter player collection
Reaching that milestone in baseball card collecting feels like an impressive feat. It’s also a lesson in patience and persistence.
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In baseball, getting 3,000 hits is a surefire way into the Hall of Fame.
Reaching that milestone in baseball card collecting feels like an impressive feat. It’s also a lesson in patience and persistence.
I recently logged my 3,000th unique Derek Jeter card for my collection.
Yet, reaching the milestone doesn’t feel like an end. It feels like an accomplishment that only a player or team collector can truly understand.
It’s not easy to get here. A player needs to be active long enough to have that many cards. Jeter played from 1995-2014 in the Majors. The good or bad thing about playing during this era of cards is that there are so many parallels, so they add up quickly.
His first cards appeared in 1992, which was before the plethora of parallels. Instead, those early years were filled with minor league cards, interesting inserts and oddballs.
The deluge of parallels started in 1996 when Jeter had a number of Leaf Preferred and Select Certified parallels.
In 1997 and 1998, his cards started to rack up. He was a STAR — by baseball’s and Beckett’s standards. He was included in every base set and many inserts. In 1998, he was featured on nearly 800 cards!
It made collecting different cards easier because there were so many new ones being put into the market practically every week.
The influx of cards in my Jeter collection came in the early 2000s, when I started working and had money to spare. I was able to buy lots and chip away at cards on my want list.
But there were always more and more cards …
So many more.
According to TCDB, Jeter now has nearly 25,000 different cards.
It’s impossible to collect them all, but that won’t stop me from trying.
However, I do have guidelines to make the chase a little less unwieldy.
I don’t chase cards numbered five or fewer. If I can get one that is affordable, great.
I don’t chase hits. I have several autographs and relic cards, but they are not the focus. They are nice to have and I will pick up some when I like the way they look.
That makes my collecting pool a lot less than 25,000 cards.
Putting together my guidelines of non-hits and cards numbered fewer than five, it conservatively brings the pool of Jeter cards down to around 17,000. That means I own about 17% of Jeter’s card run.
I also have a hierarchy of cards as part of my chase:
1992-1996 run
Playing days
Retirement
I have nearly completed the 1992, ‘93 and ‘94 runs when I don’t include autographed cards.
That’s why it’s important to remember collecting is a long game.
And I’m only getting started.
Putting the Fun in Fun Face
When 2024 Topps Baseball Series 2 came out last week, collectors immediately noticed an homage to an iconic card. Jackson Holliday had his bat resting on his shoulder with the bat knob facing the camera.
And you can read the bottom.
This is a family-friendly show, so unlike Billy Ripken’s famous card, the knob reads “Fun Face.”
Topps didn’t just include the regular image, but also many of the different variations that exist of the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken card like the black box, scribble, saw cut and more.
There’s been mixed reaction from collectors. Many love the homage to the iconic card while others are confused that Topps is honoring a Fleer card.
Here are the current known variations:
Fun Face (eBay)
Black Box (eBay)
Black Scribble (eBay)
White Scribble (eBay)
White Out Knob (eBay)
Saw Cut (without designation) (eBay)
Saw Cut (with designation) error (eBay)
What do you think about the Jackson Holliday card?
As far as the Holliday card goes, I think it’s fine and fun for those collectors who are into it. It’s not on my list, but if I pull one great. I’m not trying to track it down.
Congratulations!! As I was sorting cards the other day, I came across a Jeter and immediately thought of you and your collection. Funny how we (or I anyway) associate certain players and teams with certain collectors. Collecting is a marathon, not a dash.